Airborne Hi-Def On YouTube

Kinda Makes You Wonder...

The Transportation
Security Administration says that it has been extra-efficient: it
has seized over seven and a half million weapons that were headed
for aircraft, in the past year and a half. Among those weapons are
1437 guns, 2.3 million knives, and over 49,000 boxcutters.

The weapons are consistently better-concealed, too, the TSA
says.

Hmmm...

Of the roughly 900 million emplanements in that period, the TSA
found 1437 guns. They don't know, of course, how many they missed.
One can safely assume they must have missed some... yet there were
no hijackings.

In the 900 million or so emplanements, TSA says it found 2.3
million "knives." They don't know, of course, how many they
missed. One can safely assume they must have missed some... yet
there were no hijackings.

Who's getting 'smarter?'

TSA says the smugglers
are getting better, more inventive. One might wonder if perhaps the
screeners are actually getting smarter, and now are
catching the better-concealed weapons. If the TSA says its
screeners are getting smarter, then it's safe to think they missed
even more weapons in the earlier days... yet there were no
hijackings. If the TSA says its screeners haven't improved... then
the agency has wasted our tax money, as well as our time at the
airport; and the TSA is saying its screeners are just a
bunch of uneducable morons.

Yet, for all the weapons the TSA has missed... there have been
no hijackings.

Is it likely that one of every 125 passengers [7.5 million
weapons, 900 million emplanements -- a rough cut at the
possibilities] is carrying a weapon -- that there are that many
potential hijackers? Or, could it be that the definition of some of
the "weapons" is overly-broad, so that the TSA can inflate the
perceived threat, and further justify its existence?

Could it be that American travelers really aren't that bent on
destroying airliners, that they really don't have such malicious
intentions? Or is the TSA simply trying to panic us into giving
them more power, more money?

Or -- here's a mild stretch -- since the TSA's figures and
claims aren't subject to anybody's scrutiny or verification, is it
possible that the TSA is just making up its own figures? You'll
never know.